The Three Meter Zone

Abstract

This paper explains that The Three Meter Zone, the zone where first-line leaders achieve an organization’s most vital work. The critical leadership in every organization is that provided by first-line leaders. In the military that duty falls to Noncommissioned Officers, the group of men and women considered the Backbone of the power. Every day, soldiers are trained and molded through expert action and by professional example. With no rock-solid leaders in the Three Meter Zone, the tactical mission fails. The Three Meter Zone challenges everyone to assess the leadership abilities and supply the crucial leadership the organization needs. This paper is applicable to every person who wears a uniform, regardless of service, branch or country of foundation. Part of the paper discusses how the author steers away from providing various solutions to problem solving situations. Instead, the author offers sufficient thought-provoking interests allowing the reader’s individual personal experiences to pertain for a given situation. The approach is to create some ideas and approach a certain problem, and use them as the situation dictates.

This paper discusses an outstanding book that tells an uninformed reader precisely how NCO’s should motivate, direct, and provides purpose for a Three Meter Experience! FM 22-100 guides soldiers in the Army leadership process throughout the eyes of Senior Officer Leadership. The Three Meter Zone gives it to everyone by a Noncommissioned Officer, for Noncommissioned Officers who like to be close and personal. Some persons in the Army have sold its soul to corporate America and are being taught to “manage” soldiers instead of leading them. It’s good to see a book supporting direct, in the face leadership! Other can use the book to conduct a bold site adjustment on the leadership style and be confident that the shot group will be in the Three Meter Zone! The great way to understand the impact first-line leadership has on organizations and what it entails is to comprehensively study it where it occurs in the Three Meter Zone.

General Discussion

The “Three Meter Zone” is written by J.D. Pendry a CSM USA Retired. This is a simple to read 256 pages. If the reader is interested in the subject, the reader can get through it in two to three days. Excellent advice would be to have a highlighter handy, as you may very well get various good suggestions to use in a leadership discussion forum. Although the book is written with the senior enlisted NCO in mind, executive officers, division officers, and commanding officers from whichever military service may as well find it helpful to use as well. The Three-Meter Zone was written by one of the NCO Corps greatest and brightest noncommissioned officers. He discusses army principles in “user friendly” terms. It is well written with essential messages for army leaders, past present, and future.

Command Sergeant Major Dave Pendry in his superb book is doing what noncommissioned officers have been doing everlastingly: coaching, teaching, and mentoring soldiers and other noncommissioned officers. What sets this book apart is that it provides the opportunity to “sit in” on a counseling session. This makes all beneficiaries of Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Pendry’s wisdom. Every readers, soldiers, NCOs and officers are receiving advice from their units’ senior NCO, with no appointment required. This counseling session is conducted in a non-threatening environment and completely of the record: it gets no better than this. Thee Three-Meter Zone doesn’t hesitate to expose frequent lapses in judgment between NCOs. Pendry, J.D. (2001) gives examples of what to do correctly, while balancing these with other examples of what not to do. Whether or not his views are agreed upon, his words are at all times thought provoking.

Command Sergeant Major Pendry manages to make simpler complex concepts and put them into words that all can comprehend and profit by. The use of examples and diagrams makes it easy to follow. When a few theories are added, they help to clarify and compliment the extra complicated concepts. The end result is an impressive and at times entertaining book that once started is hard to put down.

Noncommissioned officers are, at this very minute around the world, leading, training, and caring for soldiers. That’s what people expect of them and it’s been that way for more than 200 years. Most, if not all, of the wise advice from NCOs goes unrecorded, gone to all but a few who pass it on to the next generations of corporals and sergeants. Command Sergeant Major Pendry has corrected this difficulty by providing The Three-Meter Zone for the future guidance.

The Three Meter Zone is considered the zone where first-line leaders achieve an organization’s most vital work. According to CSM David L. Lady  (1999) the critical leadership in every organization is that provided by first-line leaders. In the military that duty falls to Noncommissioned Officers, the group of men and women considered the Backbone of the force. The greatest way to comprehend the impact first-line leadership has on organizations and what it entails is to comprehensively study it where it occurs in the Three Meter Zone. This is an outstanding book that tells an unaware reader precisely how NCO’s should motivate, direct, and provides purpose for a Three Meter Experience! FM 22-100 guides soldiers in the Army leadership process through the eyes of Senior Officer Leadership. The Three Meter Zone gives it to the reader by a Noncommissioned Officer, for Noncommissioned Officers who like to be close and personal. We are in an Army that has sold its soul to corporate country and are being taught to “manage” soldiers instead of leading them. It’s excellent to see a book supporting direct, in the face leadership!!

Other can use the book to conduct a bold site adjustment on the leadership style and be confident that the shot group will be in the Three Meter Zone! “The three meter zone” is said to be the zone of the first-line noncommissioned leader. It is the zone that is described as the day-after-day, in-the-face, hands-on leadership. It is the most vital leadership zone; if what should be done within the zone is done with common sense and high standards, the result will be an outstanding soldier. If what should be done within the zone is done poorly and to low standards, the result will be an elimination action or, worse, an unenthusiastic, untrained, unfit soldier who is simply marking time until ETS. As the Army is torment from severely high attrition rates among first term soldiers, CSM Pendry’s short book is both well-timed and useful. The author obviously explains how first line leaders can grow themselves and the leadership style, and how they can lead the soldiers to triumph. This book is recommended to be read by sergeants and by company-grade officers. All battalion and brigade commanders must add it to their unit’s professional reading list.

CSM Pendry has focused firstly on the leader, and explains how he developed his own leadership technique He shows how he changed several of his opinions over the years, and how he seriously examined his values to build up a solid foundation for his leadership technique. He includes an remarkable discussion on the need for counseling of the battalion CSM by the battalion commander, which can be comprehend with profit by every NCO who intends to turn out to be a “command team” member. He relates that it was critical to his own development to plainly sit down and write out what the Army values mean to him. It was not simple for him to do, but when over, he had the position, he knew where he was going, and he knew how he intended to get there. Another concept he found helpful was the “personal battle focus,” his own mission vital tasks, means of assessing where he was, and a plan to be where he wanted to be. CSM Pendry emphasizes the vital importance of being the example of what we want the soldiers to be never easy, but completely essential to success within the three-meter zone.

In the second half of the book, CSM Pendry focuses on standards and discipline for soldiers knowing them, encouraging them, training them, respecting and rewarding them, and physically training them. The longest and most significant of these sections covers “knowing them.” Here, CSM Pendry emphasizes that different styles must be used for dissimilar people, with the objective of moving the soldier out of the three-meter zone of constant supervision and comprehensive instructions, into the “fifty” or “one-hundred meter” zones of amplified responsibility and autonomy. Readers will find his remarks on the need to welcome newly promoted NCOs into the corps, on the need to know and be partners with civilian workers, and on the need to correspond with and participate in low-profile events with soldiers to be especially thought provoking.

Lastly, each leader should read his comments regarding how numerous NCOs and company grade officers have “willed” the Single Soldier Initiatives for Quality of Life to fail; he properly indicts many leaders for willfully weakening to support the program and the soldiers as the best of them attempt to improve their style of life.

CSM Pendry has no miraculous formulas for leaders. He has thought seriously about how he leads; he has enhanced as a leader by applying his insights. By reading these books challenges can be taken up to critically examine us and our styles. We can be converted into masters of the “three-meter zone” as well. The whole Army will benefit.

The Three Meter Zone provides a comprehensive yet simple to follow review of some fundamental leadership principles for noncommissioned officers (NCO) according to CMSGT Gilbert Duenas (2001). Not merely is the book a work of art, but also it has useful value for today’s NCO. The author addresses the doctrine of NCO leadership via personal and professional experiences, quotations from historical military accounts, political and military leaders, and extracts from US Army field manuals. Command Sergeant Major Pendry, USA, presents the material in such a means that NCOs in whichever military service can simply use it to take care of their people and carry out the mission.

The book is fundamental reading for the junior, mid- level, and senior NCO, supplying a practical prescription for discussing leadership issues in the twenty-first century. The author openly discloses personal experiences each one striking anecdote lends clearness and realism to leadership concepts such as integrity, trust, selfless service, and confidence. In a sense, Pendry invites the reader into an extremely natural discussion regarding leadership philosophy, one that underlies the NCO’s role as disciplinarian, motivator, mentor, and communicator. The author declares that an NCO’s influence is vital to the character and development of the military organization, insisting that the NCO is the backbone of the US armed forces. A second main strategy of the writer involves the recurrent use of probing questions to challenge the reader to cautiously examine the implications of leadership decisions.

This in-depth exploration of leadership issues suggests that the NCO may frequently confront situations which oblige more than a superficial solution. More significantly, NCOs may need to apply a holistic approach to entirely understand all facets of a leadership challenge previous to advocating or implementing a decision. Likewise, Pendry suggests that yesterday’s leadership solutions are not essentially appropriate for today’s peacekeeping, humanitarian, or combat-superiority missions. Such continuous questioning is not only welcome, but also important to the continued physical, mental, and emotional advancement of the NCO. A third element that distinguishes this text from other books is the author’s unique writing style. It was a pleasantly surprise to see that Pendry tells what he truthfully feels about NCO leadership! He honestly discloses his personal and professional perspective on leadership and the role of the NCO: complete the mission and ensure the welfare of the soldier. These convictions mirror years of military tradition, tutelage under both good and bad leaders, and training in one of the nation’s best military branches of service. Moreover, end-of-chapter summaries successfully encapsulate the principles under discussion, giving today’s NCO the comprehension and motivation to lead, communicate, discipline, and motivate.

The Three Meter Zone is an exceptional book that will capture its readers’ mind and challenge them to observe the long-held leadership beliefs and practices. It is better to encourage NCOs in every military service to invest some hours of leadership-development time in reading this text. In turn, NCOs should be challenged to test the ideas and instill fundamental precepts of leadership and follower. In the final analysis, the subordinates, the military profession of arms, and the enormous nation ask for nothing less! In the book, The Three Meter Zone, CSM (JD) Pendry takes a straight advance look at what is needed to focus on as a NCO leader, despite of the trade or rank. Every chapter rolls out like a superbly informal, but highly helpful lesson on NCO leadership; the values, morals and traits required being an effective NCO.

It reads as though JD was standing up delivering it to the reader personally. In usual NCO fashion, the summing up at the end of each chapter confirms the chief teaching points before moving on to the next topic. The stories and lessons within offer an excellent stimulus for every leader young and old to re-evaluate their own Three Meter Zone. This book is appropriate to everyone who wears a uniform, despite of service, branch or country of origin. The author steers away from given that many solutions to problem solving situations. As a substitute, he offers enough thought-provoking interests allowing the reader’s own personal experiences to pertain for a given situation. The approach here is to formulate several ideas and approach a given problem, and use them as the situation dictates.

Conclusion

In the early days, standing between independence and the superpower of the day, the Army of Citizen soldiers is in hopeless need of professional leadership, discipline and training. Nowadays, they are the world’s best trained, most powerful and profession-ally led Army. Their strength is owed to a willingness to change when essential and the good sense to comprehend and leave alone the lasting things that must never change. It has been a striking progress from a collection of citizen soldier militia units to the force of Desert Storm. Even though evolution is thought, consider this: Of all the changes that have kept person dominant, one thing has never and can never change if the person involved are to remain so.

The Three Meter Zone is considered an organized, thought provoking book from an enlisted leader’s viewpoint filling a void long neglected. Even though focused on the Army, the Three Meter Zone encourages serious thinking on leadership issues faced by enlisted leaders of all service. Dave Pendry writes regarding leadership issues with honest passion and seasoned experience. The author’s mature point of view is illustrated with significant real-world examples and concepts functional in meeting today’s enlisted leadership challenges. It is clear from the first to the last page, when the school of hard knocks is united with good common sense, personal or organizational troubles are controllable and no problem is undefeatable. The book is honest, forthright, and can simply see Pendry loves the Army and the soldiers. It can also be find the author is concerned about current “leadership” trends. Who isn’t! Do yourself a favor and read this book. Sam Goodwin, CSM (Ret).

Thee Three-Meter Zone doesn’t hesitate to expose usual lapses in judgment among NCOs. Pendry gives examples of what to do appropriately, while balancing these with other examples of what not to do. Whether or not people agree with his views, his words are at all times thought provoking. This book obviously rates as one of the top two or three books that can be recommend on this topic. Some found it to be very refreshing that this book was oriented “primarily” towards the first-line supervisor level. Even though the principles and concepts outlined in the book were obviously applicable in the direction of supervisory and management positions above that first line level, the force of its direction was rather distinctive in the direct approach towards first line supervision.

I found the Three Meter-Zone to be simply one of the best books on leadership that I have ever read. The book visibly rates as one of the top two or three books that others could recommend on such topic. Furthermore, the use of “war stories” to demonstrate certain examples of conceptual thoughts of principle permitted the reader a glimpse of practical applications of the different principles.

It was somewhat strange that whereas this book was a simple read and simple to follow, well written, and by no means conceptually “hazy”. And this book is hard to finish! And that was single for the reason that others found themselves reading a section, putting the book down and mulling over what they just read and for sometimes mulling it over off-and-on for hours, going back and re-reading it, etc. previous to going on to the next section. Consequently, it took quite a bit longer to finish the book that others had first imagined! This book rates an “A+” for no other reason that the author’s identification of one of the main troubles facing supervision and management today.

In fact, in today’s area of supervision and management as from the observation in the law enforcement field and otherwise see both in the corporate world and in the military the “Three Ps” are the principal problems of leadership nowadays. Until the cultural climate adjustments take place that effect the required changes in this area, there is no hope for true positive result within those troubled organizations. Command Sergeant Major Pendry manages to make things easier complex concepts and put them into words that all individual can understand and profit by. The author’s use of examples and diagrams makes it simple to follow. When the author adds a little theories of his own, they help to make clear and compliment the more complicated concepts. The end outcome is a splendid and at times funny book that once started is hard to put down.

Reference Page

CSM David L. Lady, Command Sergeant Major, (1999) US Army Armor Center, Armor Magazine, May-June

CMSGT Gilbert Duenas (2001), USAF, Maxwell AFB, Alabama, Aerospace Power Journal Winter.

Pendry, J.D (January 15, 2001)The Three Meter Zone: Common Sense Leadership for NCOs. Presidio Press; 1st edition.